Camas an Staca

Standing Stone / Menhir

Camas an Staca (Camus an Stacca) (Standing Stone / Menhir) on The Modern Antiquarian, the UK & Ireland's most popular megalithic community website. 5 images, 1 fieldnote, 1 weblink, plus information on many more ancient sites nearby and across the UK & Ireland.

Images (click to view fullsize)

Fieldnotes

Directions:
Upon arriving on the lovely island of Jura take the A846 (the only road) towards Craighouse. As you start to reach the southern end of the island you will see a wooden sign directing you to the stone on your right (south). You can park near the sign. The top of the stone can just about be seen from the road.

You need to walk back down the road a bit to find the stile to get over the fence. Just to confuse you the sign doesn't align itself to the stile! (It's an 'island thing' a local told me!)

Once over the stile it is only a short walk but very boggy, particularly near the fence where the ground is at its lowest. It gradually dries out as you get higher. The whole area is covered in chest high ferns. This is of little relevance to the stone which dominates its surroundings. The stone is huge, a real whopper. Given its size and location I would assume it was erected as a marker to be seen by those travelling by boat?

Whatever the reason for its erection it is a very fine stone and well worth visiting if you are lucky enough to be able to visit Arran.

Miscellaneous

"Just a little further on and we moved from history to prehistory at the superbly sited standing stone. This twelve foot high stone goes back 3,000 years before Somerled, to the Bronze Age. Of the men who carried it here we know little. Strangely, it is in Jura that traces of the very first men in Scotland have been found - flint arrowheads uncovered in the sand dating back over 9,000 years. Perhaps the proliferation of the caves, large and small, made Jura a natural island for colonisation by the first shore-dwelling people looking for a place to settle."